Posted on 05/03/2006 11:08:18 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
THOUSANDS of riot police today clashed with local residents, students and activists in South Korea opposed to plans to expand a key US military base.
The violent clashes occurred when about 3000 police in full riot gear stormed a primary school compound, where hundreds of protesters opposed to the plan were holed up.
The US-South Korean proposal outlines the relocation of dozens of US military bases in Seoul and the surrounding area to Camp Humphreys, in Pyongtaek, 70km south of Seoul.
In the clashes protesters hurled rocks and wielded sticks to keep the police at bay, while dozens of civilians were arrested and some were seen bleeding from faces in the clash.
Troops, backed by helicopters, later began establishing a barbed wire fence around a vast track of paddy fields to secure the expansion of the camp.
Police soon seized the compound except for a school building where dozens of protesters, including a number of Catholic priests, continued to stage a sit-in protest.
"Stop expanding the US military base in Pyongtaek! No war on the Korean peninsula!" read a banner held by protesters on the building.
Some local residents and farmers, backed by students and activists, had refused to leave their homes on the site of the planned expansion to protest against the Government's procurement of the area.
South Korean Defence Minister Yoon Kwang-Ung had earlier threatened to use force to evict protesters from the area.
Under a mutual defence treaty, some 32,000 American troops have been stationed in South Korea against North Korea's 1.1-million-strong army on the Korean peninsula since the 1950-1953 Korean War.
I guess the older generation is dying off.
Yep, and the younger generation has been permanently infantalized, just like our own.
Be careful what you are typing here. Next time you go to South Korea you will receive "special" treatments LOL!
It is long past time to reduce US forces in South Korea by 3/4, and relocate them to Japan near Fukuoka which is nearest to South Korea LOL.
I favor pulling all US troops out of South Korea. They are a bunch of ingrates. It no longer provides the South Korean government with a 32,000 "hostage factor" insurance policy that the US will support them if North Korea invades. It also would allow us more flexibility in dealing with North Korea which makes the North Koreans nervous because they would like nothing better than to rain missiles down on our troops in South Korea should we bomb them in the North.
This 20-year-old thinks that's a dangerously pessimistic generalization. =P
We'll just have to start calling you ExceptionZeppelin.
The Koreans are pretty cool for the most part and it gives us a nice toehold on mainland Asia.
haha, i can handle that...
Fortunately, there are always a few to carry the torch, and I count my own sons among them. But, I think the generalization (and I recognize that's what it is) stands.
I came across a great quote today. It read something like...
"The real world: a liberal's nightmare. So they hide out on college campuses."
ha!
Right now, I would say the strategic advantage of having them out of South Korea outweighs the advantage of the toehold. We can put them in Japan who are somewhat more accommodating.
Obviously the S. Korean youth are anxious to starve to death like their N. Korean counter parts. All they have to do to fulfill their dream is move North.
Wasn't the US in Korea under the 'mandate' of the United Nations? Just return the mandate...
sayonara's Japanese
I though we had decided to withdraw the troops and surrender South Korea to the Chinese/NK communist? Why are bothering with troops pullouts in Iraq when we have yet to disengage from a fight that took place more then half a century ago. Pull these troops and let them patrol our Southern border instead of Korea's border; we are the ones that are being invaded.
exactly...we depart to Japan
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